Stephen King

#1 Bestseller Writing as Richard Bachman With an Introduction by the Author "The Importance of Being Bachman"

The Long Walk

Richard Bachman

In a futuristic America ruled by ultraconservatives, one hundred of the nation's hardiest boys must endure a five-hundred-mile marathon race known as the Long Walk, a lethal contest of determination and endurance in which each tortured step becomes a harrowing struggle for survival, in order to win fame and fortune. Reissue.

Rebeca Keren Nuñez

"La larga marcha" de Stephen King es un impresionante relato distópico que lleva a los lectores a un viaje angustiante y emocional a través de una competencia brutal y despiadada. Publicada bajo el seudónimo de Richard Bachman, esta novela es un poderoso examen de la naturaleza humana, el poder y la resistencia.

La trama sigue a un grupo de jóvenes que participan en un evento conocido como "La larga marcha", una competencia a pie en la que los concursantes deben caminar sin parar hasta que solo quede uno en pie. El premio para el ganador es todo lo que desee para el resto de su vida, mientras que los perdedores enfrentan un destino incierto y sombrío. A lo largo de la marcha, los competidores luchan contra la fatiga, el hambre, el frío y la desesperación, mientras son observados y controlados de cerca por el gobierno.

King crea un mundo oscuro y opresivo que atrapa al lector desde el principio. Su prosa hábil y su capacidad para construir suspense mantienen la tensión en aumento a medida que la marcha avanza y los participantes enfrentan desafíos cada vez más difíciles. La narrativa está llena de momentos impactantes y giros inesperados que mantienen al lector en vilo hasta el final.

Uno de los aspectos más destacados de la novela es el desarrollo de los personajes, especialmente del protagonista, Ray Garraty. A medida que la marcha progresa, los concursantes revelan sus verdaderas personalidades y motivaciones, lo que lleva a reflexiones profundas sobre la moralidad, la amistad y la supervivencia. Garraty, en particular, es un personaje complejo cuya lucha interna y determinación lo convierten en un héroe memorable y conmovedor.

Además, "La larga marcha" aborda temas atemporales como el poder, el sacrificio y la crueldad humana. King utiliza la premisa de la competencia como una metáfora para explorar la naturaleza destructiva de la violencia y la obsesión por el poder, así como la capacidad del ser humano para resistir incluso en las circunstancias más desesperadas.

En resumen, "La larga marcha" es una obra maestra del suspense y la especulación distópica que cautiva al lector con su narrativa absorbente y su profunda exploración de la condición humana. Es una lectura emocionante y provocativa que deja una impresión duradera y sigue siendo relevante décadas después de su publicación.

Sarah Sammis

This book reminded me a great deal of The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon minus the hinted at supernatural angle. The story was a quick and compelling read albeit somewhat predictable. I wish King had dropped more hints at the events that had lead to creation of the Long Walk. He gave enough detail to show that he must have had a fuller idea of his world and its backstory and I want in on that knowledge!

maitha mana

Sunny

My third attempt at a Stephen King book and I just felt like the whole thing was just "this is okay".

Nate Niederkorn

Lisa-Maria Hofmann

This was a very meditative read. Had great satirical value after one year people telling me I should go for a walk to stay sane.

felt like a waste of 11 hours, i was interested in the lore of the concept, but it was barely touched on, 11 hours of uninteresting characters being uninteresting with minimal emotional impact. makes sense that king wrote this in his bachman era, very life is awful what’s the point vibes

cedar winslow

Derek Graf

There wasn't a whole lot going on in this one. I love King, but I don't think this is his strongest work. There isn't really any worldbuilding, and there isn't a whole lot of character work going on. It's just people walking and talking a bit, but especially after coming from The Stand, it kind of didn't do a lot for me.

Stijn de Boer 

Molly

The story kept me interested. It was kind of slow but disturbing. Not at all what I expected or hoped for at the end. I felt like it was rushed and cut off early.

Baylie Madison

** spoiler alert **
           WHAT? This concept was enticing, and i will say the inner thought and development of Ray was well done, but there are just some gaps I can’t get behind. The mild suggestion of Ray’s sexuality? Stevens’ weird character arc? For such a long book I wish more of those things were fleshed our. Enough about Jan, seriously. I was interested in a few of the characters, but no tears unfortunately. McFrees is by far my favorite. Overall, not bad, but definitely not what I expected.

Celeste Richardson

Full review now posted!

Before The Hunger Games, there was The Long Walk. Except this was way, way more disturbing. 

There are going to be spoilers ahead for the overarching plot, though not specifics regarding individual characters. I can’t think of any other way to review this book, so consider yourself warned.

Imagine a version of America that is completely obsessed with an annual “game” known as the Long Walk. In this new national pastime, teenage boys from all around the nation put their names into a lottery in hopes of being selected for the Walk. One hundred boys are selected each year to march in the Long Walk, and the last one walking gets the Prize, or anything his heart desires for the rest of his life. And the entire nation watches and places bets on the outcome. People adore the Long Walk, and the Walkers. Doesn’t sound that bad, right?

Well, if a Walker slows below four miles per hour, he gets a warning. If he doesn’t speed up within 30 seconds, he gets another. His third warning is his last, and if he doesn’t pick up the pace after that last warning, he “buys his ticket.” Unfortunately for the boys, that ticket is a bullet. Losing the Walk means losing your life. And there are no breaks during the walk. None. Once you start walking, you walk until you win or you die.

Do you know what the most disturbing part is? No boy goes into the Walk blind. Every single boy that signs up to join the walk knows exactly what to expect. They know that they’ll die if they lose. And yet they volunteer anyway. That’s right, every single participant is a volunteer. No one is ever forced to join the Walk.

Why on earth would anyone willingly sign up for a game that leaves 99 out of its 100 participants dead? Well, teenagers tend to believe they’re invincible, that they’ll live forever. Most of them honestly believe that they’ll win. However, many of them have an ulterior motive; for reasons beyond their conscious grasp, they want to die. This way, they either get their wish or live in the lap of luxury for the rest of their lives. 

What made this so disturbing for me was the fact that every single participant and spectator understood the rules. No one was surprised by the deaths. The spectators howling their approval from the sidelines and fighting over bloody shoes as mementos was incredibly disturbing. I felt like one of those morbid spectators, as I couldn’t tear my focus away from the Walkers; it was like watching a train wreck. However, in my opinion the most macabre element of the story was the foreknowledge of the Walkers themselves, and the fact that they chose their fate. 

This was an insanely dark story, perhaps one of the darkest I’ve ever read. King was right when he said that Bachman was his rainy day alter ego in the introduction to this book. While I still felt that the story was decidedly King in style, the tone was darker and more cynical and hopeless than we usually get from the King of horror. The Long Walk is without a doubt compelling, but its plausibility will keep you up at night.

Original review can be found at Booknest.

daisy

this might have the potential to be one of my all time favorite. left me sobbing really hard in the two last chapters, we got to see some of characters development throughout this book and some awakening also. the open ending really frustates me because i need to know the ending! but overall i really like this book, it feels like u are going with them on the walk because this book feels really long for a 300+ pages lol. the characters (especially the last three standing) is what makes this book enjoyable and page turning for me and i really do feel strongly connected to them and dont want them to die.. i just wish the ending could be a solid one


some of my favorite lines here:

“And I think . . . when I get tired enough . . . I think I’ll just sit down.”

“Well, that’s something you’ll get to find out, too. Plumb the unplumbed depths of Garraty. Sounds almost like a travel ad, doesn’t it? You burrow until you hit bedrock. Then you burrow into the bedrock. And finally you get to the bottom. And then you buy out. That’s my idea. Let’s hear yours.”

“How many you or I have outlasted doesn’t matter, I think. There comes a time when the will just runs out. Doesn’t matter what I think, see? I used to have a good time smearing away with oil paints. I wasn’t too bad, either. Then one day—bingo. I didn’t taper off, I just stopped. Bingo. There was no urge to go on even another minute. I went to bed one night liking to paint and when I woke up it was nowhere.”

“Walk a little bit longer,” Garraty said through his tears. “Walk a little longer, Art.”

Excerpt From: "The Long Walk" by Stephen King. Scribd.

In this #1 national bestseller, “master storyteller” (Houston Chronicle) Stephen King, writing as Richard Bachman, tells the tale of the contestants of a grueling walking competition where there can only be one winner—the one that survives. In the near future, when America has become a police state, one hundred boys are selected to enter an annual contest where the winner will be awarded whatever he wants for the rest of his life. Among them is sixteen-year-old Ray Garraty, and he knows the rules—keep a steady walking pace of four miles per hour without stopping. Three warnings and you’re out—permanently. With an introduction by Stephen King on “The Importance of Being Bachman.”

petit-chocobo

This could have been a favourite if not for all the misogynistic and homophobic comments... 
A very fast read, quite hypnotic and a fascinating concept, I loved the ending. Again, could have been a 5 star but the misogyny went on and on and on, I cringed everytime a woman/girl was mentionned... I guess the homophobia is to be expected, as the protagonists are all male teens (and it's the 70s so...) but it could have been avoided, like really, that was highly unnecessary. Otherwise I really loved it!

Kristina Masone

I was in the mood for "killing games" and this fit the bill. There's just something about Stephen King's writing that I don't jive with, and I can't put my finger on it.

Maytal

I remember reading this a long time ago and it popped into my head the other day. Still just as good as I remember.

In an ultraconservative America of the not-too-distant future when America has become a police state, the annual marathon is the ultimate sports competition. One hundred boys are selected each year to enter a grueling 450-mile marathon walk. The game is simple: maintain a steady walking pace of four miles per hour without stopping. Three warnings and you're out--permanently. The winner will be awarded whatever he wants for the rest of his life; but a single misstep could be the last.

a novel

The long walk

Nikki K

There was something kind of off about this book. I think perhaps this being my first Stephen King I wasn't quite used to the writing style. But the premise was so compelling and I really fell into the story, especially in the second half as the character names became familiar and the crackers were shaken through the sieve.

Ruth Parker 

My legs hurt. My head hurts. I think I’m thirsty. I think I’m tired. I’m pretty certain I did the long walk with these guys. Wow.

Brandy Allen

Emily

The dead are orphans. No company but the silence like a moth's wing. An end to the agony of movement, to the long nightmare of going down the road. The body in peace, stillness, and order. The perfect darkness of death.

My oh my. This is by far my favorite King book out of the four that I've read. While this book is not classified as 'horror' and is considered dystopian, I would argue that it could be both. Sure, there are no monsters out to get you, or any crazed clowns, but what is out to get you is even scarier. This book is terrifying because it could be real. Anyone can relate to not being able to walk hundreds of miles. The idea that your own body could collapse on you at any moment, even if you desperately don't want it to, is terrifying. More terrifying than any monster, to me anyway. 

What was really scary was the number of people who got out because of reasons out of their control. Can't poop fast enough? Okay, you've been shot on the side of the road and die with your pants pooled around your ankles. Got a leg cramp? I guess you will have to walk as quickly as you can with one leg until, ultimately, you can't keep up and die with your face in the pavement. 

This book plays with your emotion, even more so than any other book I've read. It's not just scary, and it's not just sad, something about it makes you feel utterly powerless. It's not full of people making stupid decisions, it's full of people's minds and bodies deteriorating until they die. There's no one to blame for what happens to each boy because they put themselves up to it. They did nothing wrong, they just could not physically move on. The idea of your life coming down to something you cannot control is petrifying. 

Knowing all of this made reading about each character become sadder and sadder because you know that there will only be one winner. Everyone else, everyone else who you've been learning about and beginning to care for, will die. And, it is out of your, and their, control. 

I found myself rooting for certain characters very easily, while not truly knowing all that much about them. (view spoiler)[Stebbins was someone who particularly interested me. I found the 'plot twist' around his character to be a bit obvious/cliché, but it also made sense. It also allowed his death to make sense. I'm just realizing this now, as I write this, but I guess Stebbins died because he finally lost the will he talked about at the beginning. He was walking to the end because he wanted to scare the Major. He wanted to get revenge. But, once he realized that the Major already knew, that's when he died. His body gave out because his mind did. That's what he had been saying would happen to everybody else all along. (hide spoiler)]

I really liked how King chose to write this dystopian almost like a 'slice of life.' He showed us a key aspect of the world, and giving us subtle hints about other details, but he didn't feel the need to explain the entire society. Some might not like this choice, but I found it to be very fitting as a thorough explanation of the background of the society would have little to no impact on the story itself.

Something that really has me thinking, and probably will for years, is the ending. (view spoiler)[I personally think that there are a bunch of ways that it can be interpreted, and I think that's what King was going for. I would like to know which interpretation, if any, he believes in. However, I don't think that is something we would ever get to find out. When I read the ending for this first time, I interpreted the dark figure as Death, and that Garraty ran towards it and died on the road alongside Stebbins. However, upon a re-read of the end, I also think the dark figure could just be a representation of how the Long Walk messed with Garraty's head. Maybe the game broke him, and he would always think there was someone ahead, someone he still had to beat. Maybe he only ran forward a few more yards before dying, or maybe he only ran a few feet before being stopped by the Major and saved. I'd like to hope that Garraty lived, but I personally think that him losing his mind would be the ending that makes the most sense. This way, King would be showing the reader what the Walk is capable of. How it takes someone, even the strongest man out of 100, and crushes him to a pulp. (hide spoiler)]

Another thing that I found interesting about this book was that, from what I've heard, King wrote this under Bachman because he wasn't confident in his talent/ability at the time. That baffles me because, from what I've read, this is one of his strongest works. It's not only entertaining and suspenseful, but it's also incredibly well-crafted. While written by 'Bachman,' it maintains King's signature style. Several anecdotes carried throughout the story that the main character ponders on numerous occasions, and an almost dirty feeling carried throughout the whole book. I'm not sure exactly how to describe that feeling, but it's something that comes along with each of King's work. A crude feeling, something of unease and desperation. 

If you have never read a Stephen King novel, I think this would be a wonderful introduction, and if you have, this would be an incredible continuation.

Amber Laha

I struggle with my thoughts on this one. I felt that the author took on futility and the book was exactly that, but with a great story and told in a way that had me thinking. Was he drawing parallels with Hitler? The Major makes me think of him and how Hitler put innocent people in concentration camps and plenty of people were like, "That's cool." The Major put these kids in a walk where they would end up killed, and people seemed to think that entertainment. Was he saying that life is futile? He really seemed to be obsessed with sexual thoughts, which felt out of place and disgusting at times. Also, is he a homophobe, racist; or were these the thoughts of the times, which we never get?

I did enjoy this book, but I struggle with those things and one more, why would kids agree to do something voluntary that they knew would end with them killed? It really, bothered me, especially since we never got much of a background on how this started. Where did the Major come from? How did it get started? AND why would people let it happen? 

But like I said this was a great book, because it made me think, I thought he was able to deal with the emotions and thoughts of the characters brilliantly, and made what was happening come off the pages. 
I just struggle with where I stand with this book. I liked it, but I am not sure if I normally would.

Corrie White 

First read of the year and it starts off with a doozy. 

This is Prime King. I absolutely suffered with these boys every step of the way and also wonder if this isnt some commentary on war and how one country can be so determined to send their young people to fight and ultimately be killed. Merge that premise with a game show of epic reality TV proportions and wow... really says a lot about human psychology.

Absolutely loved this book.

Karleigh McCarville

I don’t even know what I read. I’m so confused. It was a quick easy read but I don’t understand. And the ending wtf.

Ben Nathan

Wonderfully messed up. Supremely enjoyable and well written. The Richard Bachman books are really finding a way to keep me entertained with the combination of humor and human driven "horror". The characters are all great and the language to describe what's happening is perfect. My only issue is that I had almost no understanding of the world outside the walk.

The Long Walk #1 Bestseller Writing as Richard Bachman With an Introduction by the Author "The Importance of Being Bachman"

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